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Most runs against Australia, and a question of height

The regular Monday column in which Steven Lynch answers your questions about (almost) any aspect of cricket

Steven Lynch
Steven Lynch
30-Jul-2007
The regular Monday column in which Steven Lynch answers your questions about (almost) any aspect of cricket:


Desmond Haynes has scored more ODI runs against Australia than anyone else © Getty Images
As Australia are the leading one-day (and Test) side in the world right now, I was wondering who has scored the most runs against them in ODIs? asked Paul Browne from Cardiff
Three batsmen have scored more than 2000 runs against Australia in ODIs. India's Sachin Tendulkar, the overall leading one-day run-scorer, currently has 2183 at an average of 46.44, while Viv Richards made 2187 at 50.86, the highest average for anyone making more than 1000 runs against Australia. But the leader, by a narrow margin, is another West Indian: Desmond Haynes made 2262 runs at 40.39 in 64 ODIs against Australia. Haynes hit six hundreds against them, one fewer than Tendulkar, but more than anyone else (Graham Gooch and VVS Laxman have made four).
I have spent countless hours on the internet in an effort to settle a bet. Please confirm the height of the great man Garry Sobers. Until I hear otherwise, I will retain my opinion that he is taller than six feet one inch! asked Victor Moses from Canada
Well, here's a question with a difference. I couldn't find a definitive answer about the height of Sir Garry Sobers in any of the standard reference books, so went to the man who knows more about West Indian cricket than anyone else - the broadcaster and writer Tony Cozier. Here's his reply: "Sorry about the delay but I was waiting to get the definitive answer from the man himself - and did yesterday. He is, he tells me, and as listed in his passport, five feet eleven and a half inches tall. So your correspondent has lost his bet!"
All the bowlers in the list in last week's question about the most Test wickets on an individual ground were, not surprisingly, playing at home. But who has taken the most Test wickets on one particular away ground? asked Mark Berger from Australia
You have to go back a long way to find the answer to this one: there are two bowlers who took 35 Test wickets on a ground outside their own country. The first was England's George Lohmann, who took 35 in four Tests at Sydney, at the amazing average of 9.45. That included hauls of 8 for 35 in 1886-87, and 8 for 58 in 1891-92. Lohmann's feat was matched by another famous England bowler, Sydney Barnes, with 35 wickets in five Tests at Melbourne, including 13 in his first match there, in 1901-02. In third place, bringing us rapidly up to date, is Shane Warne, with 32 wickets in four Tests at The Oval.
I saw this scorecard entry today in the ongoing match between Surrey and Worcestershire: JN Batty c RJ Sillence b GJ Batty. I am assuming the batsman and bowler are related. Is this unique? asked Karthik from the United States
Actually, the Battys are not related, although the former England offspinner Gareth Batty does have a brother, Jeremy, who played for Yorkshire and Somerset. There must have been several instances of brothers dismissing brothers over the years - there have been lots of cases where they played against each other, especially in county cricket in England. Just as one example, Surrey's Martin Bicknell made a bit of a habit of dismissing his brother, managing it five times after Darren moved to Nottinghamshire. But perhaps the most remarkable scorecard entry came during the Championship match between Middlesex and Somerset at Lord's in 1933: "HW Lee c FS Lee b JW Lee." All three Lees were brothers.


Graeme Hick is the daddy of List A matches with a whopping 634 games under his belt ... and he's still going. © Getty Images
I see that Graeme Hick has appeared in no fewer than 634 List A limited-overs matches. Has anyone played more? The nearest challenger I can find is Kim Barnett, way behind on 525, asked David Taylor
Graeme Hick has indeed played in more List A matches (senior one-day games between first-class teams) than anyone else, scoring 21,589 runs in those 634 games so far. My money would have been on Graham Gooch, but he "only" played in 614. Gooch made 22,211 runs, so Hick has a little way to go to become the leading List A run-scorer, although he has already passed Gooch if you count his 929 runs in Twenty20 cricket. Wasim Akram played 594 List A matches, Mike Gatting 551 (remarkably, he played 551 first-class matches too) and John Emburey 536.
There's an update to last week's question about batsmen reaching Test hundreds with a six, from Sreeram Iyer and Vivek Jain
I'd like to thank these two correspondents for pointing out that Sachin Tendulkar has reached four Test centuries with a six, not three. He first did this against West Indies at Nagpur in 1994-95, and repeated the dose against England at Edgbaston in 1996. He also did it against New Zealand at Wellington in 1998-99 (this is the one that was not on my earlier list), and against Australia at Chennai in 2000-01. Sreeram also points out that Rick Smith's "Test match sixes: a draft report" also credits Ken Barrington with reaching his hundred with a six four times in Tests.

Steven Lynch is the deputy editor of The Wisden Group. If you want to ask Steven a question, use our feedback form. The most interesting questions will be answered here each week. Unfortunately, we can't usually enter into correspondence about individual queries.